https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A team of professional and amateur Japanese astronomers have found evidence for a thin atmosphere around a small body in the outer solar system. The object is so small that it should not have a sustainable atmosphere, raising questions about when and how the atmosphere formed. Future observations to better characterize the atmosphere will help solve these mysteries. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-tiny-world-neptune-atmosphere-shouldnt.html Astronomy Mon, 04 May 2026 11:00:09 EDT news697097941 Using preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the largest single batch of asteroid discoveries submitted in the past year. The discoveries were made using data from Rubin's early optimization surveys and offer a powerful preview of the observatory's transformative impact on solar system science. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-early-vera-rubin-observatory-reveals.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:40:04 EDT news694359721 A Southwest Research Institute-led team has reported the first detection of gas on the distant dwarf planet Makemake, using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This discovery makes Makemake only the second trans-Neptunian object, after Pluto, where the presence of gas has been confirmed. The gas was identified as methane. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-methane-gas-dwarf-planet-makemake.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 09 Sep 2025 13:29:03 EDT news676643341 A team of astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian has discovered a rare object far beyond Neptune, from a class known as trans-Neptunian objects, that is moving in rhythm with the giant planet. This object, called 2020 VN40, is the first confirmed body that orbits the sun once for every ten orbits Neptune completes. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-rare-distant-vn40-sync-neptune.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:10:06 EDT news671799958 A group of astronomers from across the globe, including a team from the University of Washington and led by Queen's University Belfast, have revealed new research showing that millions of new solar system objects will be detected by a brand-new facility, which is expected to come online later in 2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-rubin-observatory-millions-solar-vivid.html Astronomy Wed, 04 Jun 2025 10:29:18 EDT news668251752 In the cold, dark outskirts of planetary systems far beyond the reach of the known planets, mysterious gas giants and planetary masses silently orbit their stars—sometimes thousands of astronomical units (AU) away. For years, scientists have puzzled over how these "wide-orbit" planets, including the elusive Planet Nine theorized in our own solar system, could have formed. Now, a team of astronomers may have finally found the answer. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-wide-orbit-planets-planet.html Astronomy Tue, 27 May 2025 14:12:04 EDT news667573922 A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO), named 2017 OF201, at the edge of our solar system. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-extreme-cousin-pluto-dwarf-planet.html Astronomy Thu, 22 May 2025 10:37:10 EDT news667129026 University of Central Florida (UCF) scientists and their collaborators discovered new insights into the formation of distant icy objects in space beyond Neptune, offering a deeper understanding of our solar system's formation and growth. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-webb-scientists-solar.html Astrobiology Fri, 25 Apr 2025 11:18:07 EDT news664798676 The puzzle of predicting how three gravitationally bound bodies move in space has challenged mathematicians for centuries, and has most recently been popularized in the novel and television show "3 Body Problem." There's no problem, however, with what a team of researchers say is likely a stable trio of icy space rocks in the solar system's Kuiper Belt, found using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-hubble-kuiper-belt-duo-trio.html Astronomy Tue, 04 Mar 2025 12:46:03 EST news660314761 The organic material found in a few areas on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is probably of exogenic origin. Impacting asteroids from the outer asteroid belt may have brought it with them. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-dwarf-planet-ceres-material-space.html Astrobiology Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:44:05 EST news657218642 New studies led by researchers at the University of Central Florida offer for the first time a clearer picture of how the outer solar system formed and evolved based on analyses of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and centaurs. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-webb-glimpse-icy-planetesimals-early.html Astronomy Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:22:30 EST news653826143 Although our solar system is billions of years old, we've only recently become better acquainted with one of its more dynamic and captivating inhabitants known as (2060) Chiron. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-uncovering-centaur-tracks-scientists-unique.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Dec 2024 13:23:04 EST news653750581 Trying to understand the makeup and evolution of the solar system's Kuiper belt has kept researchers busy since it was hypothesized soon after the discovery of Pluto in 1930. In particular, binary pairs of objects there are useful as indicators since their existence today paints a picture of how energetic or violent the evolution of the solar system was in its early days four billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-ultrawide-binary-kuiper-belt-earliest.html Astronomy Tue, 26 Nov 2024 07:25:11 EST news651756713 Inspired by the half-human, half-horse creatures that are part of Ancient Greek mythology, the field of astronomy has its own kind of centaurs: distant objects orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Neptune. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has mapped the gases spewing from one of these objects, suggesting a varied composition and providing new insights into the formation and evolution of the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-webb-telescope-unusual-gas-jets.html Astronomy Wed, 02 Oct 2024 13:22:48 EDT news647094153 New evidence suggests that billions of years ago, a star may have passed very close to our solar system. As a result, thousands of smaller celestial bodies in the outer solar system outside Neptune's orbit were deflected into highly inclined trajectories around the sun. It is possible that some of them were captured by the planets Jupiter and Saturn as moons. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-solution-cosmic-mystery-eccentric-orbits.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:11:03 EDT news644839861 Survey observations using the Subaru Telescope's ultra-widefield prime focus camera have revealed that there may be a population of small bodies further out in the Kuiper Belt waiting to be discovered. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-outer-solar-populated-previously-thought.html Astronomy Thu, 05 Sep 2024 09:38:03 EDT news644747881 An international team of 45 researchers studying meteor showers has found that not all comets crumble the same way when they approach the sun. In a paper published in the journal Icarus, they ascribe the differences to the conditions in the protoplanetary disk where comets formed 4.5 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-meteor-showers-comets-early-solar.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 22 Aug 2024 12:51:03 EDT news643549861 For the first time, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide ices have been observed in the far reaches of our solar system on trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). https://phys.org/news/2024-05-scientists-ices-outskirts-solar.html Astronomy Sat, 25 May 2024 05:39:13 EDT news635834337 A ring of icy rocks orbiting our sun just beyond Neptune may give us a glimpse of how Neptune—and other objects in the outskirts of our solar system—were formed. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-james-webb-space-telescope.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:57:04 EST news628966621 A pair of astrophysicists, one with Kindai University, the other the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, both in Japan, have found possible evidence of an Earth-like planet residing in the Kuiper Belt. In their paper published in The Astronomical Journal, Patryk Sofia Lykawka and Takashi Ito describe properties of the Kuiper Belt that they believe are consistent with the existence of a planet not much bigger than Earth. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-japanese-astrophysicists-possibility-hidden-planet.html Astronomy Fri, 01 Sep 2023 10:24:04 EDT news612782634 Asteroids sharing their orbits with the planet Neptune have been observed to exist in a broad spectrum of red color, implying the existence of two populations of asteroids in the region, according to a new study by an international team of researchers. The research is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-redness-neptunian-asteroids-early-solar.html Astronomy Tue, 28 Mar 2023 12:51:30 EDT news599226688 Scientists have discovered a new ring system around a dwarf planet on the edge of the solar system. The ring system orbits much further out than is typical for other ring systems, calling into question current theories of how ring systems are formed. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-solar.html Astronomy Wed, 08 Feb 2023 11:00:03 EST news595070692 A giant comet from the outskirts of our solar system has been discovered in six years of data from the Dark Energy Survey. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is estimated to be about 1000 times more massive than a typical comet, making it arguably the largest comet discovered in modern times. It has an extremely elongated orbit, journeying inward from the distant Oort Cloud over millions of years. It is the most distant comet to be discovered on its incoming path, giving us years to watch it evolve as it approaches the Sun, though it's not predicted to become a naked-eye spectacle. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-giant-comet-outer-solar-dark.html Space Exploration Mon, 28 Jun 2021 08:20:20 EDT news544087217 Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), small objects that orbit the sun beyond Neptune, are fossils from the early days of the solar system which can tell us a lot about its formation and evolution. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-orbital-patterns-trans-neptunian.html Astronomy Thu, 17 Jun 2021 13:08:24 EDT news543154100 An international team of researchers has found no evidence of trans-Neptunian object clustering as part of an effort to refute the idea of the existence of Planet Nine. The group has written a paper describing their findings and have uploaded it to the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2021-02-evidence-planet-diminishing-clustering.html Astronomy Wed, 17 Feb 2021 09:10:01 EST news532773776 Space manifolds form the boundaries of dynamic channels to provide fast transport to the innermost and outermost reaches of the solar system. Such features are an important element in spacecraft navigation and mission design, providing a window to the apparently erratic nature of comets and their trajectories. In a new report now published on Science Advances, Nataša Todorović and a team of researchers in Serbia and the U.S. revealed a notable and unexpected ornamental structure of manifolds in the solar system. This architecture was connected in a series of arches spreading from the asteroid belt to Uranus and beyond. The strongest manifolds were found linked to Jupiter with profound control on small bodies across a wide and previously unknown range of three-body energies. The orbits of these manifolds encountered Jupiter on rapid time-scales to transform into collisional or escaping trajectories to reach Neptune's distance merely within a decade. In this way, much like a celestial highway, all planets generate similar manifolds across the solar system for fast transport throughout. https://phys.org/news/2020-12-accessing-arches-chaos-solar-fast.html General Physics Wed, 09 Dec 2020 09:40:03 EST news526729021 A comet discovered last year is offering scientists new insights into how these objects "turn on" and evolve, as it actually transitions out of the Centaur population and into the Jupiter Family of Comets (JFCs), according to a paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Jordan Steckloff. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-comet-ld2-atlas-transitioning.html Astronomy Fri, 27 Nov 2020 13:10:51 EST news525705048 The search for Planet Nine—a hypothesized ninth planet in our solar system—may come down to pinpointing the faintest orbital trails in an incredibly dark corner of space. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-path-planet.html Astronomy Fri, 30 Oct 2020 07:51:44 EDT news523263099 Beyond the orbit of Neptune, a diverse collection of thousands of dwarf planets and other relatively small objects dwells in a region called the Kuiper Belt. These often-pristine leftovers from our solar system's days of planet formation are called Kuiper Belt objects, or trans-Neptunian objects. NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will examine an assortment of these icy bodies in a series of programs called Guaranteed Time Observations shortly after its launch in 2021. The goal is to learn more about how our solar system formed. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-nasa-webb-graveyard-solar.html Astronomy Thu, 29 Oct 2020 09:04:08 EDT news523181045 To understand the significance of the Spitzer Space Telescope on the understanding of our solar system, think of what the steam engine meant for the industrial revolution. https://phys.org/news/2020-10-legacy-spitzer-space-telescope.html Astronomy Fri, 09 Oct 2020 12:07:13 EDT news521464028